1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid from nozzles of a liquid ejecting head such as an ink jet recording head.
2. Related Art
As a liquid ejecting head that discharges (ejects) droplets of liquid in a pressure generating chamber from nozzles by causing pressure fluctuations to the liquid, there are such examples as an ink jet recording head (hereinafter, simply referred to as a recording head) for use in an image recording apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter, simply referred to as a printer); a color material ejecting head for use in manufacturing color filters of a liquid crystal display or the like; an electrode material ejecting head for use in forming electrodes of an electroluminescence (EL) display, a surface-emitting display (field emission display: FED) and the like; a bioorganic matter ejecting head for use in manufacturing biochips (biochemical elements), and the like.
Such recording head is configured such that a nozzle forming surface is exposed from an opening portion of a cover head, and the liquid droplets converted into mist adhere onto this nozzle forming surface, following the ejection of the liquid from the nozzles. If the adhering liquid droplets are left remained, then the liquid droplets solidify in the vicinity of the nozzles, causing an ejection failure. Accordingly, a printer has been proposed, which includes a rubber-made wiper blade (wiping member) that slides on the nozzle forming surface while abutting thereon, whereby wipes away the liquid droplets adhered onto the nozzle forming surface (see JP-A-2000-190513).
However, even if the above-described wiper blade is provided, the liquid may not be completely wiped away by the wiper blade because a level difference portion is formed between the opening portion of the cover head and the nozzle forming surface. When the wiper blade attempts to wipe over the level difference portion at the time of a wiping operation, then in some case, the liquid that has remained on the level difference portion adheres onto the wiper blade to be extruded to the vicinity of the nozzles. Accordingly, in the recording head in which the level difference portion as described above is formed, a large amount of ink may undesirably remain on a nozzle plate, and in particular, on the above-described level difference portion.